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Well, I have to say I am impressed! LibreOffice opened the ‘corrupt’ file instantly. Certainly beats using a Hex editor, amazing how far things have progressed in only…oh about 50 year, give or take a few years.

Thank you all for suggesting it.

Rhino

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TechTango

Thank you Kirsty, I’ll get Libre Office with fingers crossed.

Rhino

PaulK wrote:

Do you dare to change that character to something else, perhaps a different special?

Curiously, for several days now, I have been able to enter the password any way I want, Roboform, copying and pasting from Word, or simply using the keyboard to type in the password. I too am curious to know if the special character at the beginning is the cause, or rather was the cause. However, I’m not so curious that I’d change it right now. you know what they say, ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’

I must admit that each time I log-in to that Hotmail account I don’t really expect to get in. I’ve been doing it several times a day, expecting to fail each time; but I haven’t seen the dreaded “Wrong password” warning in the last 4 days.

So right now it ain’t broke. If it breaks I’ll change the order of the characters and let you know what happens.

Thanks a lot for your interest,

Rhino

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PaulK

Wow, what a can of worms! I’ll answer your answers one by one…

TechTango: I did just what you suggested, typed p/w in Word, copied to clipboard and pasted into the password login box. And it worked. Well I must admit I didn’t expect it to work; the output from my copy of Word is in Times New Roman, hardly plain text. However, I’m not sure what that proves.

PaulK: The passwords are unique, no spaces. The format is SlllllllUlllN. The letters do not spell any word, or name, but they make sense to me and no letter is used twice. This horrible little HP Spectre has no key pad so numbers are entered from the top row of keys.

I tried the back spacing before typing in the p/w. Did not work, nor did back-spacing an extra letter.

Wavy: Yes the pasting is from the same clipboard, Clipboard Recorder, which I’ve used for many years, never caused any problems.

I’d better not try to log-in again for some time because I’ve used what MS thinks is a bum password several times in quick succession. Don’t want to get locked out again. So what have I learned? Well sometimes I can log in… And sometimes I can’t. Didn’t think computers were supposed to work that way.

Thank you for all the inputs,

Rhino

Rhino

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TechTango

If anyone is still wondering about the outcome of the curious keyboard issue there has been a development. I gave up on the compromised Hotmail account, well not entirely, but I didn’t try to log-in for a couple of weeks. This time I typed the password, in Notepad, (the original one from way back, the one that I had tried to change 3 or 4 times), then copied it to the clipboard. When I got to the the password input box for Hotmail I pasted it. And I was in! I was amazed.

Looked through the accumulated mail, copied anything of significance, then with some trepidation I signed off. Just as a matter of interest I tried to log-in again. Pasted the password as before. “Wrong password!” Sooooo… I went back to Notepad, re-wrote the password, copied it to the clipboard, and pasted it into the input box. And I was in!

And I’ve repeated these steps, works every time. Typing the password never works; pasting it from the Clipboard works once, but changes the text that’s in the clipboard in some way, nothing visible, but changed. Now the questions are: What changes? And what causes the change?

One other question, is there any way of asking MS?

By the way I still haven’t got a refund from LG, nor Fedex, even though Fedex has admitted that they lost it. Still, it’s only been 6 months, can’t expect miracles.

Rhino

 

My first tabletop was a motherboard with a couple of dozen plastic bags of components. The CPU was 286 (I think), that was easily identified, but the rest of the components (resistors, capacitors etc.) each had to be identified, then soldered on to the mb. Four slots for memory, 16 K. “Performance” later vastly improved by increasing the RAM to a massive 64K. An old TV set was the monitor, and gut of a cassette recorder for storage.

Of course it couldn’t do anything more than bubble sort a list of names, but hey! wasn’t that impressive enough?

Rhino

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Cybertooth

Thanks for your input b. The weird thing is that no other Website, nor anything I write, ever has a keyboard issue.

The laptop that had to be returned was an LG Gram15; very good spec, beautiful display, barely an inch thick, full keyboard with number pad, (which I do use); 500 Gig SSD, 512 RAM, 3 USB 3 ports, and HDMI built-in so no need to carry around a USB hub. Weighing 1.2lbs.

The fingerprint reader stopped working after about 9 months, didn’t bother me too much I could enter a PIN. The touch pad stopped working 3 days after the 12 month warranty expired. I spent literally hours on the phone; try this, try that, nothing worked. However, I had bought it from Costco, and Costco added a second year to the guarantee.

So I called Costco Concierge. They said all the software would have to be wiped and I’d have to be send it to an un-named “repair facility”. I still had the original packaging and asked for a return label. Couldn’t be done, the box might have been damaged, they’d have to send me another one. 10 days later I got a battered looking box that had clearly done several round trips. 3 weeks later I got the laptop back.

Win 11 was already installed, I had to load my software. Tried to go online; couldn’t connect. The laptop would not allow me to enter the password for the modem. More hours on the phone. Ended with “We will send you a box blah, blah, blah.” 10 days later I got another battered box. Weeks went by, but in the end the Gram 15 was delivered. I switched it on, started to type then saw that the caps light was on. Not only was it on, it couldn’t be switched off.

This time I was perhaps a little bit short with the “representative”. Poor guy, he was only trying to be helpful, so I did apologize. However, I made it quite clear that I was not going to wait for a box, and I was sent a label to print.

Two weeks later I got an e-mail notification from Fedex with a tracking number, “In transit” it said. 2 days later it was still “in transit”. Another 2 days and it said “In transit…Pending”. I went into the local Fedex office and asked what that meant. The manager came out of his office; “It means it has been lost. File a claim…” and that was all he had to say.

Anyone tried to file a claim with Fedex? First I had to file a police report. What could I report? I didn’t hand it to Fedex, I didn’t know the date it was handed to Fedex, or how it got to Fedex. But no, no exceptions, I had to file, and then send it to Fedex. The report was brief, I asked for a printed copy. “Ah… Well that’ll be available in about 3 weeks,” the cop said. “Has to be approved…” By who? He wasn’t at liberty to tell me. “You can give Fedex this reference number. That’ll be sufficient.” It wasn’t, Fedex wanted the print-out. And LG wanted a copy too, and they wanted the “original sales receipt.” It was bought on-line. Costco sent me the official Costco receipt. Not good enough, had to be the sales receipt from the store where I bought it. Can you believe this???

I have refused to take the laptop back. After several messages to and from LG I finally got a message from Briuna, ‘Presidential Liason’ no less. “They” (meaning LG) have filed a claim with Fedex, and this issue is being sent to our refund department for processing. Someone from that department will be in touch with you.”

Don’t know who, don’t know when. This saga has gone on for almost 6 months. I haven’t bought another laptop yet because this is the first time that LG has admitted that I could get a refund and not the well-traveled Gram 15. So what to buy? Suggestions?

Rhino,

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b

Carol, I’m sorry I didn’t get back with the next installment of the saga, but I’ve had a bit of excitement for a few weeks with blood pressure, or rather the lack of it.

After two attempts to reset the password MS came up with a different method. It was to answer a number of questions. The very first one was “What were the exact words of the Subject line in the last 3 e-mails you sent”. Seriously? I didn’t even know to whom I’d sent the last three e-mails. There was no way of talking to a real live person so that is as far I got.

I opened a new Outlook. No problems logging in, until today. “Wrong password”. Could have been a typo but for the fact that I was using RoboForm. I downloaded and ran the ESET check again, it found no problems. However, the problem still persisted, all passwords worked normally, only problem was Hotmail. I never did get back into my Hotmail account

The new Outlook account worked, and continued to work, until today. I got the all too familiar “Wrong password” warning. Could have been a typo but for the fact that I was using RoboForm. So with a sinking feeling I went into the “reset password” routine, which of course requires a new password. Did that, and logged in, no problem, except that Outlook did not open. I clicked on “Back”, and was back in the “log in” window. This time the same password was rejected. So once again it was reset the password. I had to enter the last four numbers of my mobile to get a code. Got the code, entered it. At this point I was looking at the code on my phone, and the numbers I had entered. They were the same. “Wrong code”! Did it all again. Same result, but this time the response  was “If the code is correct you will be able to reset the password.” So I entered the last four; nothing happened.

I have run the ESET check again, still no problems.

Last hope… This laptop is eligible for Win 11. Can anyone tell me if I install Win 11 without re-installing any software, will that wipe out whatever is going on?

Rhino.

Thanks for your input Paul

The laptop was paired with my printer; no problem there. Another laptop has gone back to the manufacturer to be fixed and I didn’t have anything else that could pair with the mouse. However, I did have the brand new M577 mouse which had already failed to pair with the laptop, so, more in hope than expectation, I replaced the Duracell batteries which came with the mouse. And it worked! Makes me wonder how long that mouse had been lying on a shelf somewhere?

Rhino

 

Thank you for your input TechTango. I downloaded esetonlinescanner.exe and ran it. A second window opened for about 1 second, then closed. Tried it again, and again, never got to step 2.

I have a son who worked as a test engineer for Dell some years ago. I explained the problem, he asked if the HP machine had an “embedded keyboard”. If so it might be changing the output that is being sent to MS. Needless to say I had no idea. The next suggestion was to type out the password in Notepad, then copy and past it into the login page. “That way,”, he said “you know what is being sent.” Seemed like a good idea, but it didn’t work. I tried HP support, it did not accept my login, but offered to send a one-time code…to the e-mail address on file. Hotmail! And that is a far as I got.

Rhino

Retired Geek I seem to have yet more issues with this HP laptop than I thought. When I saw your questions about Roboform I replied, and at my end it seemed as though my reply was posted. Now looking back through the thread there is no sign of my reply. So I’ll try again.

I do have Roboform Everywhere, have had it for many years. And I have never forced a sync because I didn’t even know about doing that, nor has ever been an issue. Like all the best things in life it just works.

So it seems to me that the problem(s) are with this HP laptop. I’ve just booted up and this morning I have 2 more issues with it. The Logitech Bluetooth mouse and the Wacom Intuous tablet aren’t working. Both are listed in Device Manager as “working properly”. This laptop is looking more and more like an expensive paperweight.

Rhino.

Further to my last… I tried to get to HP support, had to log-in of course. Possibly because I haven’t logged in for a couple of years, they sent a code to the address on file, Hotmail!

I know it sounds mad, but I used Roboform to log in to my Hotmail account just to see what would happen, and I worked, sort of. There is nothing there, not in the Inbox, not in Sent mail, junk or deleted. Could this be the reply that MS said they’d send in 24 hours?

Come back Eudora!

Rhino

Ah Eudora! Now that brought back fond memories. There’s nothing available today that comes anywhere close to Eudora. I’d go back to it in a heart beat if it had been kept updated. I remember it started outputting weird characters like ‘&’ and ‘%’ where they didn’t ought to be. I believe there was a fix, but I never got it to work.

But to get back to grim reality. I’m living in California, bought the HP Spectre in California, there is only one keyboard, it is a US standard keyboard, and all the keys do output the correct letters, numbers and symbols in Word.

B, Manager, you said “You didn’t answer the Roboform questions”. What did I miss? Roboform logged me into AskWoody, Mailbird, Kaiser Permanente, the BBC, and other Websites so I don’t think it is the cause of this issue. Haven’t heard from MS. Maybe they have longer hours in Redmond?

Rhino.

Thank both for your responses. I  have Malwarebytes Pro running on all our machines, and have had for many years. It has only ever detected a few PUPs which I deleted.  I’ve used assorted AV programs over the years, now I rely on Windows Defender. I never open links in e-mails; have never had a virus. However, I’ll try the portable version of Malwarebytes.

I received this from MS:

“We’ve received the recovery request for your Microsoft account rh**d@hotmail.com. Your issue number is:  214560950

<b>”What’s next?</b>

“We’ll review the answers you submitted and send you an update soon. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for us to get back to you. If we are able to verify you as the account owner, you will receive a link to reset your password to regain access to your account.”

Do you happen to know if there is a MS Website that I can report this issue?

Rhino

Energy Saver, you hit the nail on the head, thank you, it worked. The Desktop is back in C drive!

The irony of this saga is that I have been religiously making images every week, but I only keep the two most recent images and as it happens the USB drive, G, has been plugged in for more than two weeks so both images that I had were made after the Desktop had been moved. I suppose the lesson is don’t leave thumb drives plugged in.

Rhino